Taiwan was in the running to be the happiest place in all of Asia, according to this year’s 2022 World Happiness Report. The democratically self-ruled island, which Beijing considers part of its territory, has seen a significant rise in its happiness ranking, surpassing Singapore for the top spot in Asia. This year's report highlights the importance of social connections, particularly shared meals, in contributing to overall well-being.
Among countries, the most remarkable about face in the happiness ranking has been Taiwan’s rise. In this metric, the nation vaulted from 31st place last year to 27th this year. This year, its net happiness ranking rose all the way to 46th place, up from 54th in 2024. This great step forward is part of a much bigger, encouraging trend.
The qualitative report’s highlight is undoubtedly Taiwan’s remarkable meal-sharing culture. Taiwanese people have an average of 5.5 dinners and 4.7 lunches with other people each week. This is a cumulative 10.1 shared meals of 14! This ranks the island of Taiwan 8th – ahead of the U.S. — in the world for meal-sharing behavior among the 142 countries that were surveyed.
They report that 5.5 dinners out of 7 are shared with others, and that 4.7 lunches are shared with others. [That's] a total of 10.1 shared meals out of 14, which puts them in 8th position globally out of 142 countries in the sample.
* Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
The World Happiness Report indicates that such meal-sharing traditions play a big part in their citizens’ reported happiness.
The impact of meal-sharing on subjective well-being is 'on par with the influence of income and unemployment,' and those who share more meals with others report 'significantly higher' levels of life satisfaction.
* the report
Strong social connections significantly increase subjective well-being. In fact, their impact can be just as powerful as that of income and employment status.
Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, chief researcher on the study, emphasizes the larger significance of these findings.
This year's report pushes us to look beyond traditional determinants like health and wealth. It turns out that sharing meals and trusting others are even stronger predictors of wellbeing than expected.
* Jan-Emmanuel De Neve
Yet the report recognizes the complexities behind Taiwan’s increase in happiness, which includes the impact of growing numbers of single-person households and an aging demographic. Demographic changes are occurring right under our noses. In response, Americans are seeking deeper meaning through social ties and shared experiences, beyond the nuclear family and even beyond homeownership.
Past research has found that dining alone is on the rise in East Asian countries, most notably in Japan and the Republic of Korea.
* the report
